There were no tears shed when two Hermiston onion companies joined forces in April. With the help of capital from Dallas-based CIC Partners, Bob Hale’s American Onion and Joe Graziano’s Rivergate Farms merged to form River Point Farms, which, they’re saying (and so far nobody has called them out on it) is now the largest grower and processor of yellow, red and sweet onions. Hale won’t say how much he expects in sales this year, only that 500 year-round employees will produce 400 million pounds of River Point onions.

It was a match made in vegetable heaven. Graziano, whose family’s produce trucks have been a fixture in Oregon for generations, claims the nickname “the Onion King.” In 2003 (three years after selling his produce business to Del Monte) he introduced a new way of cutting oinions to increase their shelf-life. Hale, meanwhile, was actively going after the fast-casual restaurant chain business. The two worked closely together, American growing the onions, Rivergate cutting them up. As Hale puts it: “It made sense to roll the companies together.”

Enter CIC, a bunch of former restaurant guys (other CIC investments include Quiznos and the largest TGI Fridays franchise) who recognized the opportunity. What’s next for River Point? Hale, the new company’s president, points out that the onion business is “highly fragmented.” Translation: Watch this space for future onion acquisitions.— Christina Williams

REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

ANNOUNCED

BUYER (HQ)

REAL ESTATE (LOCATION)

SELLER

PRICE

1-May

International Airport Centers LLC (IL)

industrial facility (Fairview)

Fairview Development LLC (Fairview)

$17m

30-Apr

RE No One LLC

Hillsboro Promenade (Hillsboro)

Hillsboro Promenade LLC

$10.1m

25-Apr

Unico Properties LLC (WA) and JP Morgan Investment Management

Reflections of Summer Creek (Beaverton)

Undisclosed private entity

$37m

24-Apr

Richard J. Bennett

industrial property (Portland)

Weston William McGaa Irrevocable Trust

$1.9m

17-Apr

Calloway Real Estate Investment Trust (Toronto)

2 retail centers (Portland & Albany)

SmartCentres of Toronto

$35m

13-Apr

ScanlanKemperBard Companies LLC (Portland)

office building (CO)

ND

$45.55m

4-Apr

Guardian Management LLC (Portland)

residential apartments (WA)

ND

ND

4-Apr

Clackamas County

industrial building (Oregon City)

RS 7 LLC

$3.68m

2-Apr

Guardian Management LLC (Portland)

residential apartments (AZ)

ND

ND

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

ANNOUNCED

EXP. CLOSE

BUYER (HQ STATE) / PARENT

SELLER (HQ) / PARENT

PRICE (TERMS)

1-May

Q2 ‘ 07

Cascade Corporation (Fairview)

American Compaction Equipment (CA)

ND

1-May

Q2 ‘ 07

MSI-PRO Co. (North Plains)/Jewett-Cameron Trading Company Ltd.

new product lines

ND

30-Apr

ND

Aventura Resorts (WA)

RV resort (Mosier)

ND

24-Apr

Q2 ‘ 07

CIC Partners (TX)

American Onion; Rivergate Farms, LLC (Hermiston)

ND

21-Apr

Q2 ‘ 07

Brookfield Asset Management (Toronto)

Longview Fibre Co. (WA)

$2.15b

16-Apr

Q3 ‘07

Ruth’s Chris Steak House (FL)

Portland franchised restaurant

~$4.5m

16-Apr

Q2 ‘ 07

Chockstone (Portland)

Peppercoin (MA)

ND

11-Apr

Q2 ‘ 07

Undisclosed investment group

Jackson & Perkins business (Medford)/Harry & David Holdings

$21m (cash+earn-out)

4-Apr

Q2 ‘ 07

SP Industries/Riverlake Partners LLC (Portland)

Genevac Ltd. (England)/Thermo Fisher Scientific

ND

3-Apr

Q2 ‘07

Tougi (Portland)/Nettel Holdings

HTD Co. (Vietnam)

ND

2-Apr

Q2 ‘ 07

UxComm (Beaverton)

Virtugo Software (CA)

ND

2-Apr

Q2 ‘ 07

McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants (Portland)

The Boathouse restaurants/Spectra Group of Great Restaurants (Vancouver, BC)

$14.3m

30-Mar

Q2 ‘07

GreenWood Tree Farm L.P./Portland

poplar tree farm (Boardman) /Potlatch Corporation

$65m

CAPITAL RAISING

ANNOUNCED

COMPANY (HQ) / LEADERSHIP

INVESTOR

PRICE

16-Apr

Collaborative Software Initiative (Portland)/Stuart Cohen, CEO

OVP Venture Partners

ND

10-Apr

Ensequence (Portland)/Dalen Harrison, CEO

ND

$40m (Series C)

10-Apr

iovation (Portland)/Greg Pierson, President, CEO & Founder

ND

ND (Series A)

List researched by Mark Druskoff

NA=NOT DISCLOSED

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